164: Chapter 164 Exploring the Simulator, the Old Man Awakens

Chu Sheng was woken up by the sunlight.

The sun on Danxia Peak was fierce; the midday light squeezed in through the window cracks and landed right on his eyelids.

He frowned, opened his eyes, and his arms were empty.

Zhou Wantang had already gotten up at some point; a cup of hot tea sat by the bedside, still steaming.

Underneath the teacup was a note with a few elegant characters written on it: "I suddenly felt a Breakthrough in my Dao of Alchemy, so I went to practice Alchemy. Drink the tea while it is hot."

Chu Sheng sat up, picked up the tea, and took a sip; the temperature was just right.

He stretched his neck, which cracked and popped.

His waist was still a bit sore, but much better than last night.

He looked down at the pitch-black ring on his finger; Old Grandfather was still in a deep slumber, without the slightest movement.

He sighed, finished the tea, stood up, and got dressed.

Pushing open the door of Danxia Peak, the sunlight outside was brilliant.

The distant mountains were layered and shrouded in mist, like an ink wash painting.

Chu Sheng squinted his eyes and watched for a while, his mind beginning to calculate the things to come.

Two months.

There were two months until the next simulator session.

It was neither long nor short.

It was enough time for him to finish dealing with the affairs of the Qinglan Sect, enough to settle Li Zhiyi, Lin Wanqing, and Xiao Huan, and enough for him to take a trip to Jin Xiao City to kill the people who needed to be killed and handle the matters that needed handling.

But to make larger plans, two months was clearly not enough.

He had to think carefully about how to utilize this period of time.

Chu Sheng sat on the stone steps of Danxia Peak, brought up the simulator panel, and looked it over repeatedly.

He was clear on all the basic functions.

Simulation, scoring, rewards, and entry retention.

He had also explored the advanced functions pretty well.

Prize pool upgrades, entry slot expansion, and alternative entry replacement.

He had also just touched the threshold of the newly released Many Children, Many Blessings entry gifting and the beauty encounters.

But Chu Sheng always felt that the simulator was more than just this.

It was always like this.

You think you have figured it out, and it suddenly pops out with a new function.

You think this is everything, and it hides something else up its sleeve.

It was like a dishonest old man with good things in his pocket, just refusing to take them all out at once.

Chu Sheng clicked on every option on the panel and went through every submenu.

Prize pool, entries, achievements, records...

He stared at that gray "Hidden" tag for a long time.

That tag was always lit, but it had never been opened.

He clicked it, and a line of text popped up: [Unlock conditions not met.]

He cursed and closed the panel.

"Exactly how many more functions are there that you haven't told me about?" he asked the simulator.

The simulator ignored him.

Chu Sheng stood up and brushed the dust off his body.

Forget it, just wait for it to pop out on its own.

Anyway, this piece of junk never listened to him.

His most urgent matter now was to finalize his plans in reality and wait for the next simulation to begin.

He started walking down the mountain. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

The ring was heating up.

Chu Sheng looked down at the pitch-black ring on his finger, his heart rate accelerating sharply.

The ring was burning hot, as if something inside was awakening.

He held his breath, staring at the ring, unmoving.

A voice came from the ring, hoarse and weak, carrying a kind of just-woken-up grumpiness—

"Brat... how long have I slept?"

Chu Sheng was stunned for a moment; the ring on his finger was still burning hot.

The voice came out again, carrying a bit of confusion: "Where is this? How did I..."

The words stopped halfway, coming to an abrupt end.

The ring burned for a moment, then went cold again.

Chu Sheng looked down at it, his heart pounding like a drum.

Old Grandfather had awakened, but it seemed... he didn't remember him?